Improvement in nail-plate feeders



1. R. RICHARDSON.

Nail-Plate Feeder.

No: 88,809. Patented April 13," 1869.

I I l tln txl sale I. R. RICHARDSON, OF NEW CASTLE, PENNSYLVANIA. at... Patent No. 88,809, dated Ami 13, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT- IN AIL-PLATE PEEDERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patentand making part 0! he B111 To all whom it may concern:

Be it-kn0wn that I, I. R. RICHARDSON, of New Castle, in the county of Lawrence, and in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Feeder for N ail-Machines; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. J

The. nature of my invention consists in the construction and general arrangement of an automatic feeder for nail-machines, which will be hereinafter fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled inthe art to which my invention appertains, to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which' Figure 1 is a plan-view of a nail-machine, with my feeder attached; 4

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same; and

Figure 3 is a front view of the feeder.

About the construction of the nail-machine itself there is nothing new, and I will therefore only briefly by letter designate its several parts.

A is the frame.

I B, the main shaft, to which the driving-wheel O and fly-wheel D are attached.

E is the beam, which carries the movable cutter F.

G is the stationary cutter, at the side of which is placed the gauge H.

J is the beam, which carries the head-punch I in and out, to punch the heads of the nails.

At the front end of the nail-machine is secured an inclined table, A, the lower inner edge of which is placed a suitable distance above the surface of the stationary cutter G.

On the upper side of the inclined table A, at each corner, is secured a block, a, through which a set-screw, b, passes inwards, for the purpose of regulating the frame B, which is placed on the table A, between the blocks a a. V

In the centre of the adjustable frame B is placed a hollow cylinder, 0', which is held by'met-al bands 0 c, in such a position that the end of the cylinder is even with the inner end of the frame, but atthe same time allowing the cylinder to revolve freely on its bearings.

The nipper-rod D passes through the hollow cylinder 0', and has at its inner end the nippers d, which hold the blank from which the nails are to be out.

The nipper-rod D is round, except for a suitable length at its upper end, where it is elliptical or V- shaped, on bothsides tapering from the centre toward the sides.

The hole in the upper end of the cylinder 0' is of the same shape and size as this elliptic portion of the nipper-round, but the balance of the hole through the cylinder is round, and larger than the uipper-rod, so

that the said rod can be freely moved both up and down, and sideways, for a purpose that will be hereinafter set forth. v The upper end of the nipper-rod 1) passes through an elongated slot in a bent bar, a, which is secured to a movable cross-head, E, and the nipper-rod is held between said' bent bar 0 and cross-head E, by a swivel, f, attached to the same, allowing thus a rotary as well as perpendicular and lateral motion of the upper end of the nipper-rod.

The cross-head E, which runs in grooves in the sides of the adjustable frame B, is on its upper side provided with or secured to a square bar, F, whichpasses through the upper end of the frame B, and is moved up and down, carrying the nipper-rod D with it by' means that I will hereinafter explain.

The blank from which the nails are to be cut is inserted in the nipper d, and as the nails are cut tapering from said blank, it is necessary that it should be turned around after each nail has been cut 05. For this purpose, the cylinder 0 is, at a suitable point, provided with two grooves, and two bands, or belts, g g, are secured to the cylinder, running in said grooves, one to each side of the frame B, where they pass over pulleys h it, down below the inclined table A, where they are, by means hereinafter set forth, connected with the ends of two levers, G G.

These levers are pivoted at a suitable point, in or under the main machine, their rear ends, being bent, extend upward, under and in front of the main shaft B, where they are operated upon by cams H H, placed on a shaft underneath the main shaft.

This auxiliary shaft I is turned by a pinion, J, on

the main shaft, which gears into a cog-wheel, K, on the former.

The cams H H are placed on the shaft 1, in such a manner that the levers G G' are operated alternately, first one and then the other. Thus, when one of these levers is moved so that its front end is lowered, the cylinder, 0' is, by means of the belt g, turned a certain distance toward that side. The elliptic form of the upper end of the nipper-rod D, causes this also to turn with the nail blank.

When the other lever G1 is operated by its cam, the cylinder turns in the opposite direction. Thus for each revolution of the auxiliary shaft I, the nipper-rod and nail-blank have turned twice.

The bands, or belts g g pass through stirrups '8 'i, and have in said stirrups, a spiral spring, 70, around each of them, to which spiral spring the belt is secured.

The under, or lower end of the 1 stirrup t is passed under a metal spring, m, which is on its under side provided with a series of notches, in which the stirrup is placed.

The spring m is secured to the lever G, and pressed downward by a set-screw, n, as seen in fig. 2.

It will be seen that by changing the stirrups 'i. i, in

the notches on the springs m m, the distance the cylinder 0 will turn, can I easily be regulated, and the springs in m, with the assistance of the spiral springs k k, the tension on the belts is regulated.

The taper of the nails is regulated by moving the adjustable frame B, and placing it in the required position on the table A, and holding it by means of the set-screws b b. y

'In front of the frame B the nipper-rod D is supported by a rest, formed on the upper end of a rod, 0, which passes down through an elongated slot in the lower end of the inclined table A. This rest is guided by an inclined gauge, 19, secured to the front end'of the frame B, as seen in fig. 3.

When the nails are cut by the cutters F and G, the nail-blank, which is marked L, lies flat on the cuttingedge of the stationary cutter G, and its edge against the gauge H.

To now turn the nail-blank, it is necessary to move it away, both from the stationary cutter G and from the gauge H. This is accomplished by the rod 0, above mentioned.

This rod having passed through the elongated slot in the inclined table A, is below said table, secured to a lever, M, which is pivoted under the main portion of the nail-machine, and its rear end being bent, extends upward under the main shaft B, where it is operated upon by a cam, N, on said shaft.

The operation of the lever M is to raise the rude, which then also carries the nipper -rod D upward, the inclined gauge 10, against which the rest for the rod D formed out of the rod 0 bears, carries it away from the gauge H, while it is turning; and as'soon as the lever M descends again, a spring, 1', which bears against the nipper-rod, as shown in fig. 3, carries the same back against the gauge H. i

It will, however, be necessary to draw the blank L away from the movable cutter F, before it is being turned, so as to obviate any danger there might be in a very close contact while it is being turned. For this purpose the front end of the lever M is, by means of a rod, connected with a two-armed lever, P, which is pivoted at a suitable point under the outer end of the table A.

The other arm of the lever P is, by means of a rod, s, connected with a lever, It, the upper end of which is cam-shaped, as shown in fig. 2, and pivoted in a sleeve, S, which surrounds or encloses the bar F.

By this means it will be seen that at the same time as the rod 0 lifts the nipper-rod D upward, the camshaped leverR catches on the under side of the bar F, and being moved upward by the motion of the two-armed lever P, it draws the bar F, and with it the nipper-rod also upward. At the instant when the lever M descends, allowing the nipper-rod to fall down again, the rod s turns the cam-shaped lever B away from the bar E, which allows the nipper-rod to be moved inward, again feeding the nail-blank t0 the,

cutters. This is accomplished by means'of a weight, T, suspended by a rope, i, from the cross-head E, said rope passing through a hole in the inclined table A.

The sleeve S is carried back to its original position at the head of the adjustable frame B, by means of a spring, '0, as seen in fig. 1.

The rod s, which connects the two-armed lever P with the cam-shaped lever B, is hooked on to a headed pin on the side of the latter, so that when desired, this connection may be severed, by lifting the rod 8 away from said pin. This is done by alever, U, pivoted at a suitable point on the side of or under the inclined table A, one end of said lever being bent in the shape of a hook, in which the rod s rests.

When the bar from which the nails are out has been used up, the rods is raised, and the connection between the levers P and R severed, the bar F is then drawn up as far as possible, where a spring, 11:, attached to the cross-head E, catches on the upper end of the frame B, holding the nipper-rod up, so that a new nail-bar may be inserted in the nipper (Z. By now merely releasing the spring at and anew connecting the levers P and R, the nail bar will be fed to the machine.

It will readily be seen that during the operation of inserting the new nail-bar, it is not necessary to stop the machine, it can keep on running without interfering with the operarors work.

The distance the nail-bar is fed in between the cutters F and G is regulated by a gauge placed underneath the movable cutter F.

Having thus fully described my invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the adjustable frame B, hollow cylinder 0, nipper-rod D, cross-head E, and bar F, all constructed as described, and operating substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. The nipper-rod D, constructed as described, with a portion of its length of elliptical shape, in combination with the cross-head E, swivel f, slotted bent bar e and hollow cylinder 0, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

3. The combination of the cam N, lever M, and rod 0, with gauge 1; andspring 7', as and for the purposes herein set forth.

4. The combination of the hollow cylinder 0, belts g g, levers G G and cams H H for the purpose of turning the nipper-rod D, substantially as herein set forth.

5. The arrangement of the belt g,. spiral springs k, stirrups t', and notched spring m, with the cylinder '0 and levers G G, all substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

6. The combination of the two-armed lever P, rod 3, cam-shaped lever B, reciprocating rod F, sleeve S, spring 1:, and lever U,. all constructed as described, and operating substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing, I have hereunto set my hand, this 6th day of February, 1869'.

.I. R. RICHARDSON.

Witnesses;

Lnorom) Evnnr, EDM. F. Bnown. 

